Trip Summary: 12 Wonderful Things That Happened

Trip Summary: 12 Wonderful Things That Happened

Here's a roundup of our favorite travel events of 2016

In last year's trip summary, we talked about turbulent events, political instability and aggression around the world.

As the French would say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In fact, we saw our fair share of tumult, instability and aggression in 2016 – and Brexit and Trump only promise more.

However, similar to last year, we were also reminded that there is amusement and joy even in the worst years. From historical events (March, September) to frivolous fantasies (April, June), 2016 wasn't all bad. Here's a roundup of our favorite events.

January: Google launches Street View… on Mont Blanc

In January, Google Street View launched on Mont Blanc, allowing even the laziest to climb the famous peak alongside experienced mountaineers.

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Ueli Steck climbs Mont Blanc in the ice (Image: Google, Fair Use)

Spectators can watch Kilian Jornet – who holds the speed record of 4 hours and 57 meters for climbing and descending Mont Blanc – run across the summit or follow Ueli Steck as he climbs vertically.

Alpine glaciers and massive seracs are displayed in all their high-resolution glory, offering panoramic views that few typically see.

February: Guests invited to sleep in a Van Gogh painting

In February, the Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with Airbnb to allow guests to stay in its latest installation, a replica of Van Gogh's painting "Bedroom at Arles."

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Guests are invited to stay for $10 per night (Images: Art Institute of Chicago; Public Domain)

The Airbnb listing describes the room as "decorated in a post-impressionist style reminiscent of the south of France and times gone by" and boasts that you'll feel like you're living in a painting.

The price is only $10 per night. The host explains, “I need to buy paint.”

March: Obama visits Cuba

In March, Barack Obama became the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly a century. The visit followed efforts to restore diplomatic ties between the two countries decades after the overthrow of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista by Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959.

alt="In 2016, Barack Obama visited Cuba">Kimberly Shavender/ShutterstockBarack Obama visited Cuba in 2016

When he arrived, Obama tweeted: "Que bolá Cuba? I just landed here and look forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people."

Obama toured Havana on foot in the rain, taking care not to slip on the wet stones next to Havana Cathedral. His wife Michelle and two daughters were also in the country to keep him company.

April: The British public votes for Boaty McBoatface

After polls closed for the naming of its new polar research vessel, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) confirmed it had received 124,109 votes in favor of RRS Boaty McBoatface, four times as many votes as its nearest competitor.

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NOT Boaty McBoatface (Image: NERC, Fair Use)

The name was first suggested by BBC radio presenter James Hand and quickly captured the public's imagination, causing the competition to go viral.

Unfortunately, NERC defeated the public vote and decided to name the £200 million polar explorer “RRS Sir David Attenborough” in honor of the BBC broadcaster.

Of course there was a lot of talk about the decision.

Calling on Sir David Attenborough to do the right thing and change his name to Sir #BoatyMcBoatface via ballot poll

— Jo Lindsay Walton (@jolwalton) May 6, 2016

May: Nepalese woman completes seventh Everest summit

In May, Lhakpa Sherpa, 42, who works at a 7-Eleven store in Connecticut in the US, reached the summit of Everest for the seventh time, beating her own record.

Lhakpa, one of eleven children, was born in Nepal's eastern Sankhuwasabha district, home to the world's fifth highest mountain, Makalu.

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Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Everest seven times (Image: Jesse Burke; Fair Use)

Despite her extraordinary achievements, Lhakpa remains largely unknown, partly due to her reluctance to speak to reporters after allegedly suffering domestic violence at the hands of her husband. Recently separated from her ex-husband, Sherpa completed her final summit after a 10-year break.

June: Sevelyn Gat goes to China

In a particularly amusing case of "faking," would-be tourist Sevelyn Gat had herself photoshopped into a series of images depicting a trip to China.

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Sevelyn in one of her “vacation snapshots” (Image: Sevelyn Gat, Fair Use)

The images were completely unconvincing and sparked a meme in which Sevelyn found herself placed in a whole range of unlikely scenarios.

In a heartwarming ending to the episode, local businessman Sam Gichuru took pity on Sevelyn and raised enough money to actually send her from Kenya to China!

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Sevelyn really visits China (Image: Sevelyn Gat, Fair Use)

July: Buzz Aldrin tweets travel expenses

In July, Buzz Aldrin tweeted his expenses... for his trip to the moon. The former astronaut released his "travel voucher" for his trip to space, which shows he claimed $33.31 to travel from Houston, Texas, to the moon and back.

47 years ago I submitted my travel voucher refund for my trip to the moon. #Apollo11 ​​pic.twitter.com/DHAXEYVTHi

— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) July 27, 2016

The voucher lists Aldrin's travel arrangements, noting a "government spacecraft" among the planes and cars used on the trip.

A second tweet shows that all Apollo 11 astronauts had to sign a customs form upon their return to Earth. When they arrived in Honolulu on July 24, 1969, Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins said they had brought with them “samples of moon rocks and moon dust.”

August: Greenland shark revealed to be 400 years old

In August, scientists revealed that a Greenland shark is likely the oldest living vertebrate on the planet.

Using all sorts of scientific wizardry - from carbon dating to eye lens analysis - the team found that a female shark measuring just over five meters long is about 392 years old.

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A Greenland shark, photographed after its release from the research vessel Sanna (Image: Julius Nielsen, Fair Use)

The discovery shows that the shark (Somniosus microcephalus) is much older than the bowhead whale, which is known to have lived for 211 years.

Even more surprising is that the Greenland shark pales in comparison to the world's longest-lived animal. That title is held by Ming, an Icelandic clam who made it to 507 years before scientists unknowingly killed her.

September: The National African American Museum opens in DC

In September, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened on a five-acre site on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

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The National Museum of African American History and Culture (Image: Rex Hammock, Creative Commons)

The 400,000-square-foot museum is designed to convey the "unvarnished truth" of America's past and celebrate the triumphs of its present. It houses over 36,000 artifacts, including the coffin of Emmet Till, the 14-year-old boy murdered in 1955 for reportedly whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi.

President Obama spoke at the inauguration and said, "African American history is not somehow separate from American history. It is not the flip side of American history. It is central to American history."

October: Picture of Pakistani chai wala goes viral

When photographer Javeria Ali posted an impromptu snapshot of a Pakistani chai wala (tea seller) online, she had no idea the frenzy it would spark.

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Arshad Khan made many hearts beat faster (Image: javeria ali, fair use)

The smoldering picture of then-unknown Arshad Khan, 18, began trending on social media as thousands of Twitter users publicly declared their love.

Clothing brand Fitin.pk rode the wave of Arshad's newfound fame and quickly signed him as a model. Announcing their partnership, the brand wrote on Facebook: "Chai Wala is no longer Chai Wala, now it's Fashion Wala!"

November: Planet Earth returns

A full 10 years after the first series, BBC's Planet Earth returned to our screens to national fanfare. The six-episode series - islands, mountains, jungles, deserts, grasslands and cities - was narrated by Sir David Attenborough and accompanied by an exceptional soundtrack by none other than Hans Zimmer.

There was no end to the iconic scenes, from the face-planting bobcat and kickboxing frog dad to the snow leopard cub and lion fighting a giraffe - not to mention the horrific plague of locusts. If you haven't seen it yet, do it!

December: Waterfalls appear at Uluru

In December, Uluru was transformed by a series of waterfalls created by heavy downpours. The 600-million-year-old gigantic rock formation is located in one of Australia's driest regions and is subject to extreme temperatures ranging from high 40s during the day to below zero at night.

The national park at Uluru has been closed after record rainfall - and dramatic pictures show why. The storm created makeshift waterfalls that cascaded down the rock's 300-meter-high sandstone facades, in what experts called a twice-in-a-century phenomenon.

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